With today’s news that the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth has been removed as a venue from the 2009 Confederations Cup schedule on the heels of FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s comments last week, the South Africa 2010 project has lived through a bad week.
Regardless, FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke seemed optimistic after the 2010 Local Organizing Committee’s Board meeting held in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
“We (FIFA) are happy with the progress made by South Africa so far,” said Valcke.
“All the deadlines we set have been reached and met. We are confident that South Africa will be ready to host a hugely successful event in 2010.”
He stated that remarks made by FIFA president Blatter during the recent Euro 2008 Championships were not meant as a threat to South Africa.
“The president (Blatter) made it clear that only a catastrophe would prevent South Africa hosting the 2010 spectacle. We had a problem in 2003 in China when an earthquake forced FIFA to move the Women’s World Cup to the United States. Only that type of disaster will force FIFA’s hand on South Africa. One must realise that FIFA organize 20 world cups in four years.”
“The main event is the men’s World Cup which is the diamond that pays for all the other events and we cannot allow anything to happen and lose out as the other tournaments which are mainly used for development of soccer will suffer.”
Valcke declined to disclose which country had been chosen should South Africa suffer a major tragedy. MY POV: USA? Or as one commentator on the last post indicated, Germany??
“There are only two people at FIFA who know the name of that country. One is the president and the other is me. I am not at liberty to disclose any details.”
Unfortumately, the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium will not be ready for the World Cup dress rehearsal, the 2009 Confederations Cup. South Africa’s 2010 World Cup Local Organizing Committee chairperson Irvin Khoza said the stadium would be ready in time for the 2010 Cup.
“We were forced to remove the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium from the Confederations Cup as we could not get a guarantee that it would be ready by end of March 2009 despite phenomenal progress being made,” said Khoza.
“It was the only new stadium we intended using for the Confederations Cup. It will definitely be ready well ahead of schedule to host the 2010 World Cup.”
Valcke agreed: “There was only one decision we could take after listening to the report on the progress of Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium today and that was we could not take a risk.
“Therefore the stadium will no longer be part of the Confederation Cup. The event is a big test and allows us to correct any faults before the hosting of the World Cup.”
MY POV: It still sounds like these guys are talking out of both sides of their mouths.
Again, I think confidence in the SA project is what is needed, not veiled threats.
Written by Darkvader on July 8th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 2009 Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup and FIFA and South Africa.
EGYPT 1, CAMEROON 0
If you want a play-by-play recap - visit Greg Lalas’ live-blog over at the New York Times blog “GOAL”. It was a tight one to the very end, but Mohamed Aboutraika found an opening thanks to a scrum in Cameroon’s box to slot one past Kameni and put Cameroon on the backtrack. The biggest surprise of the game was Samuel Eto’o being left alone up front as Egypt effectively closed down the wings and no real game was being created in the middle. Eto’o was kept quiet tactically and Egypt created several chances on the counter-attack. Mohamed Zidan was the unsung hero for the Pharaohs - doing all the work in the box before he was able to poke it Aboutraika who was left open amidst all the confusion. Zidan’s work throughout the game created several chances for Egypt. It was veteran centreback Rigobert Song that helped Zidan create that chance as Song - former Liverpool defender - attempted a clearance not once, but twice!, and failed to get it out. Zidan came rushing in, tangled Song up, and found Aboutraika open on the near flank. Song had an event in the 70th minute that was just as embarassing, but it didn’t lead to much. Either way, the signs were there…and Egypt pounced.
Throughout, Egypt opted for the team approach - no real stars, just concerted, effective play. Mohamed Zidan - their biggest scoring threat - was kept to only 2 goals for the tournament but he created a hell of a lot more. Hosny Abd Rabo, Mohamed Aboutreika, and Amr Zaky all tied for second on the African Nations Cup scoring leaderboard with 4. Ghana took third place with a 4-2 win over the Ivory Coast. One of Steve Goff’s loyal Soccer Insider reader’s was in Cairo for the game viewing and festivities afterward - read his account here.
It is Egypt’s 6th African Nations Cup title and the first to repeat since Cameroon in 2000/2002 (before that, there wasn’t a repeat since Ghana in 1963/1965). With the win, the Pharaohs will fill the CAF slot at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa along with Italy (2006 World Cup champ), South Africa (HOST), the United States (Gold Cup champ), Iraq (Asian Cup winner), and Brazil (2007 Copa America winner). There are two slot left to be filled - the winner of the 2008 EURO Championship and the 2008 OFC Nations Cup both which will take place soon.
Written by Breton on February 11th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 2009 Confederations Cup and African Nations Cup and Cameroon and Egypt and Mohamed Aboutreika and Rigobert Song.
EGYPT 1, CAMEROON 0
If you want a play-by-play recap - visit Greg Lalas’ live-blog over at the New York Times blog “GOAL”. It was a tight one to the very end, but Mohamed Aboutraika found an opening thanks to a scrum in Cameroon’s box to slot one past Kameni and put Cameroon on the backtrack. The biggest surprise of the game was Samuel Eto’o being left alone up front as Egypt effectively closed down the wings and no real game was being created in the middle. Eto’o was kept quiet tactically and Egypt created several chances on the counter-attack. Mohamed Zidan was the unsung hero for the Pharaohs - doing all the work in the box before he was able to poke it Aboutraika who was left open amidst all the confusion. Zidan’s work throughout the game created several chances for Egypt. It was veteran centreback Rigobert Song that helped Zidan create that chance as Song - former Liverpool defender - attempted a clearance not once, but twice!, and failed to get it out. Zidan came rushing in, tangled Song up, and found Aboutraika open on the near flank. Song had an event in the 70th minute that was just as embarassing, but it didn’t lead to much. Either way, the signs were there…and Egypt pounced.
Throughout, Egypt opted for the team approach - no real stars, just concerted, effective play. Mohamed Zidan - their biggest scoring threat - was kept to only 2 goals for the tournament but he created a hell of a lot more. Hosny Abd Rabo, Mohamed Aboutreika, and Amr Zaky all tied for second on the African Nations Cup scoring leaderboard with 4. Ghana took third place with a 4-2 win over the Ivory Coast. One of Steve Goff’s loyal Soccer Insider reader’s was in Cairo for the game viewing and festivities afterward - read his account here.
It is Egypt’s 6th African Nations Cup title and the first to repeat since Cameroon in 2000/2002 (before that, there wasn’t a repeat since Ghana in 1963/1965). With the win, the Pharaohs will fill the CAF slot at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa along with Italy (2006 World Cup champ), South Africa (HOST), the United States (Gold Cup champ), Iraq (Asian Cup winner), and Brazil (2007 Copa America winner). There are two slot left to be filled - the winner of the 2008 EURO Championship and the 2008 OFC Nations Cup both which will take place soon.
Written by Breton on February 11th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on 2009 Confederations Cup and African Nations Cup and Cameroon and Egypt and Mohamed Aboutreika and Rigobert Song.
